Blue Pony cross country set for Hardin Invitational this weekend

With a win in both the boys and girls meets in Browning last weekend to open the season, Havre High cross country head coach Erin Lynch hopes to carry that success into the Hardin Invite this Saturday. As they head into this weekend's meet, Lynch looks forward to tougher competition.

"We have a baseline time for our season under our belts from last week," Lynch said. "This week, I'm curious to see how the kids do in a much larger meet and one with more Class A competition."

Some of those Class A schools they will compete against include Billings Central Catholic, Miles City, Lewistown, Hardin, Laurel and Lockwood. Other schools that the Blue Ponies will compete against include Belfry, Colstrip, Lodge Grass, Moorcroft, Park City, Plenty Coups, Powder River County, Fromberg, Roberts, Roundup, Shepherd and St. Labre Catholic. Out of all the teams they will see this weekend, Lynch believes Hardin and Miles City will be the fiercest competition.

In the week before their meet, Lynch has been looking to get her team physically and mentally ready. One unique aspect of this week's meet will be the hills on the course. To prepare for them, Lynch has incorporated running on hills into their exercise this week.

"There are a couple of pretty brutal hills on the course," Lynch said. "We have been adding hills into the middle of our workouts when the kids are feeling a little bit tired, then work on some hills while they're already a little fatigued to help us prepare for those hills mentally."

If the Ponies are going to repeat their success from last week, their top runners will need to have another strong outing. Sophomore Caleb Tomac will run for the Ponies after he finished first in the boys 5,000 meters last weekend with a time of 17:43.36. Brody Henry and Zack May hope for a high finish after they finished in the top 10 last weekend as well.

At last weekend's Browning meet, half of the top 12 runners in the girls 5,000 meters were from Havre so they will be trying to repeat that success this weekend in Hardin. After placing fourth last weekend with a time of 24:13.33, Hailey Gingery will look for another high placing this week. Emma Gillen will look to finish higher than her fifth-place finish at Browning.

While the Ponies should have many individuals run well this weekend, Lynch knows it will be a team effort if they are going to win their meet this weekend. Lynch is looking to get her other runners to cut down on their times and finish higher than they did last week in order to get the team score higher.

"Ideally, you want your pack time to be pretty minimal," Lynch said. "So from your first runner to your last scoring runner, you want that time to be as tight as possible."

The HHS cross country team will begin competing at the Hardin Invitational this Saturday at 10 a.m.